Other local villages

Congratulations on getting such strong support for the Littlehempston cyclepath, and on your informative website. It would be interesting to be able to see maps of the existing and proposed cycle routes on the page ‘The current routes for cyclists’, both those to and from Littlehempston, and their connections with the other routes in the surrounding area. Great if anyone and everyone could cycle safely all around Devon. A cycle path linking Totnes to Littlehempston to Newton Abbot, connecting with one linking Torquay to Totnes, would provide a circular route for residents and tourists.

We need a cycle path from Stoke Gabriel to Totnes, perhaps as part of the Torquay to Paignton to Totnes route. Existing roads are steep, twisting, full of blind corners, and joining dangerous main roads at accident blackspots, while footpaths are a hard walk, always unstable, often flooded. There may be possibilities for a slightly flatter route, perhaps nearer the river, if local landowners will share their land with a NCN project. If there was a safer flatter route from Paignton/Brixham to Stoke Gabriel to Totnes, which could also be extended to Dartmouth, this could facilitate and encourage both healthy travel and transport for residents, and green tourism throughout the area. Hope all our comments contribute to help these connected-up cycle routes happen.

This cycle path is essential! It will be used by many who are currently using cars to commute to or from Totnes/Newton Abbot and will thus reduce the amount of traffic on the Totnes – Newton Abbot road.

After this one is secured, PLEASE can the cycle path which ends at Rudolf Steiner School be extended to Buckfastleigh.

We saw a small poster today, I think at Copper Tree Cross whilst on a ride from Torquay and we totally support a link from Totnes to Littlehempston rather than using the A381. For us once in Littlehempston we can work the quiet lanes via Ipplepen and Stoneycombe to get home. A few motorcyclists were using the A381 as a race track today which is frightening when on a bike.

If the Camel Trail and Tarka Trail are anything to go by perhaps the line should be closed as many more people would use the route from Buckfastleigh to Totnes for leisure cycling, providing much more income, jobs and new businesses at each end and along the route than is delivered by the railway.

I hope the railway management will see sense and by opening the foot bridge for cyclists to walk across this will help create the link to Littlehempston. Once complete it should be straightforward to then have good signposted cycling routes through to Buckfastleigh, with the railway, cyclists and walkers living in harmony in this beautiful area.

Support Safe Cycling

Petition

Please read our aims below and sign up on the right if you agree.

We believe there should be a safe cycle route between Totnes and Newton Abbot, enabling cyclists and walkers to avoid the dangerous A381 Newton Abbot road. This route should also complete the missing link in the National Cycle Network (known as NCN2).

The route must be accessible to all, and therefore relatively direct and flat. Excessive gradients rule out most of the proposed alternative routes. The new route must also represent value for money, solutions therefore involving a new bridge over the river Dart are unlikely to be affordable.

After carefully analysing all the possible solutions over a number of years we believe that the best route by far runs along existing quiet lanes from the village of Littlehempston (north of Totnes) towards the South Devon Railway (SDR) station, crossing the Dart over the existing SDR footbridge. Having said that we will support any route which is accessible to families, safe, and affordable.

We understand that the SDR management have concerns about allowing shared access across the footbridge. We believe that it is vital that any solution resulting in the use of the SDR footbridge must involve adequate council-funded measures to ensure the security of SDR and the Totnes Rare Breeds Farm, both of which excellent businesses we support and wish to prosper. Security measures would also need to be implemented sensitively to avoid compromising the aesthetic appearance of the station or the farm.

The missing link in the cycle network needs fixing. However we urge Devon County Council (DCC) NOT to sign off a route that bypasses Totnes and is hardly used currently. Instead we ask DCC to work with SDR and Rare Breeds Farm to find a mutually acceptable way forwards. And we ask that SDR enter these negotiations in the spirit of compromise, particularly in recognition of the fact that approximately 50% of the funding for their bridge was provided by the public. Please SDR, support the local community and help make this fantastic project a reality.